Driver killed in turnpike crash was esteemed longtime volunteer

Earl Gray died in a car crash on the Maine Turnpike on Friday. Courtesy Stephanie Gray

The driver killed in a violent crash that shut down the northbound lanes of the Maine Turnpike for close to five hours Friday was an esteemed longtime volunteer at York County Community Action Corp.

Earl Gray, 57, of Waterboro and his passenger, 5-year-old Wyatt Frost of Lyman, were killed as Gray was driving Wyatt from an educational program Friday afternoon. A box truck slammed into the rear of Gray’s car about 3 miles north of exit 19 in Wells as the two traveled north, rode up its roof and crashed down on it. The impact drove Gray’s car into a tractor-trailer in front of it.

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Earl Gray, who died in a car crash in Wells on Friday, "loved everything about driving for York County Community," his ex-wife said. Courtesy of Stephanie Gray

Wyatt Frost Photo courtesy of the Frost family

“Earl was one of our best volunteers, very highly regarded,” said Barbara Crider, executive director of York County Community Action Corp.

The crash took place about 2 p.m. in northbound traffic that had slowed for an earlier accident. In that accident, at mile 24 in the southbound lanes, a driver was thrown from a vehicle that crashed into a median guardrail. Police have not identified the driver, who was taken to a hospital with critical injuries.

Crider said the staff at her agency was in shock Saturday.

Gray had been driving people to appointments for more than a decade and had been giving rides to Wyatt for a few years.

“It is just a nightmare. It is so tragic, the whole loss of this beautiful little child, and that Earl, in doing what came naturally to him, which was volunteering and spending his time serving others, would pay the ultimate price,” said Crider.

Gray drove children and elderly and disabled people almost every day of the week as a volunteer. Crider said he had been volunteering with the agency since 2006.

“He had a wonderful, easy manner,” she said.

York County Community Action, founded in 1965, provides services for low-income York County residents, such as transportation, weatherization, early childhood education and nutrition. Crider said the agency’s 30 volunteer drivers use their own vehicles.

Gray’s ex-wife, Laurie Gray of Sanford, described him as her best friend and the kind of man who couldn’t say no to people in need.

“He would do anything for anybody, even if he couldn’t,” she said.

Gray, who was disabled, started volunteering at York County Community Action to keep himself busy, but he soon fell in love with the work, his former wife said.

“He loved everything about it, but the kids were his favorite,” she said.

She said he frequently talked about Wyatt.

“He said how cute he was. He mentioned him a lot,” she said.

Attempts to contact Wyatt Frost’s family Saturday were unsuccessful. A gofundme page (gofundme.com/wyatt-frost-funeral-fund) has been set up to raise money for the boy’s funeral. As of Saturday night, more than $9,000 had been raised toward a goal of $20,000.

The Wells Police Department, in a Facebook post Saturday, said Wyatt was a student at the Morrison Center in Wells. The Morrison Center provides programs for adults and children with disabilities.

Gray said her ex-husband lived with and cared for his 90-year-old mother in Waterboro in the home he grew up in. He was close to the couple’s children, Stephanie, 28, and Paul, 25, she said.

He also enjoyed hanging out with his racing friends at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough.

On Saturday, Maine State Police had few new details about the crash. The driver of the box truck was identified as John Kamau, 56, of Lowell, Massachusetts, who was delivering mail from New Hampshire to Portland. Kamau and the driver of the tractor-trailer, who has not been identified by police, were not seriously hurt.

The crash stranded drivers north of exit 19, who could not be rerouted to Route 1 for more than five hours as emergency workers and investigators worked to clear the scene. Some stranded drivers expressed frustration at the lack of information provided to them by officials.

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said it took so long to reopen the highway because of the violent nature of the crash.

“They had to methodically investigate with photos and measurements. Unfortunately, it took a long time,” said McCausland.

No one has been charged in the fatal accident. McCausland said further details of the crash would be compiled and forwarded to the York County district attorney for review.

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me

Let’s hope the driver is charged.

Sarah

How do you rear end someone like that? Something’s off.

Guest

A car can stop in 1/4 the distance of a loaded box truck.

Sarah

That is a good point. Horrible story.

Guest

It truely is

Bootjack

Let’s hope the driver is deported.

Bob Rossi

Why? At the moment there’s not even any evidence he was negligent, let alone criminal negligence.

Bootjack

He rear ended a car for crying out loud!! A driver is supposed to control his vehicle at all times. He was probably tail gating and not paying attention. But I’ll wait for the evidence. If he’s guilty he should be deported.

Really ???

There’s a rotten driver in Orono who caused my spouse and I to be in a accident a couple yrs ago. Ended with surgery and military issues. Can we deport her?

Midwinter

What if he’s a US citizen? Maybe I missed the part in the article that said he was an immigrant.

Bootjack

Then he’s our problem and would go to jail. His Facebook page suggested he went to school in Africa. So at some point he was an immigrant.

Yourtimeisup

Really ? Are you the same Bob Rossi that

Pete2

Deported?

Yourtimeisup

Obama will pardon him before he leaves the WH

Bob Rossi

All those hypocrites who constantly invoke the name of God to justify their bigoted actions and statements should take a look at this man who was really doing God’s work.

xcalibur1066

My, your “Christianophobia” is showing. Stop the H8!!!

Bob Rossi

I reserve the right to hate bigots.

Sarah

Hate begets hate

Bob Rossi

OK, so I intensely dislike bigots. But I hate broccoli and V8 juice.

Sarah

No one is perfect

Fake_Name2

Then you are a hater.

xcalibur1066

Stop the H8!!!

Sarah

I don’t know about all that but this was a good man, he did do Gods work. RIP

Yourtimeisup

With comments like that, I am surprised you use your real name…..sleep tight Bobby, make sure the doors are locked tight

Bootjack

This is the one kind of accident I always fear when driving on an Interstate. Cars and trucks exceeding the speed limits and not paying attention cannot stop if someone slams on the brakes or slows down suddenly. I hope this man and boy RIP. God needed some angels.

Sarah

R.I.P.

maine_citizen

If it turns out to be yet another case of “distracted driving” I will flip my lid.
I wonder because I cannot otherwise fathom how, in slowing traffic, someone manages to rear end the car in front if it this violently?
Cell phones need to be put away when the car is moving. Period.
I have had it with people endangering the lives of others because they had to answer a call or look at a @#* ‘text’…
RIP to this man and child.

Moderate Conservative

Our culture as a whole, from the guy on the street to our lawmakers in Augusta to the folks in the Press Herald newsroom, are all partially to blame for these tragedies. (Yes, like most others, I’m perhaps foolishly operating under the assumption that this crash involved a distracted driver.)

Until we ALL start to treat distracted driving and drunk driving the same – as a culture and under the law – we will continue to see “accidents” such as these.

Really ???

What object did you blame prior to cellphone’s? Some are distracted with absolutely nothing , no Radio, person, food,etc. We need to just enforce driving rules all around. But at this point, we don’t even know if it was human error. My prayers go out to all involved , the families and the first responders.

Jeremy

Ok… you don’t just slam into someone especially that hard at 2 in the afternoon going the same direction unless you’re on something or sleeping.

imgizmo

Is it possible that there was a mechanical failure on the truck?

imgizmo

I do not know what happened but I would like to know if the truck had a mechanical problem. Maybe the brakes failed and the driver was unable to stop the vehicle. I think we need to find out more information about what happened before we blame anyone.

imgizmo

May they both R.I.P.

rockyrun

Question? First, sorry about these deaths. Would they have stranded all these people if it was 20º or snowing? That is a serous question because, if that was the case, more deaths could have easily occurred.

MaineMod

Two people lost their lives and all you care about was the fact that motorists were stranded for a time? What in the world do you think they could do about it? And yes, motorists have been stranded on roads when it’s cold, snowing, freezing rain, all kinds of conditions. They generally don’t die.

This was an exceptionally horrific crash with debris all over the road, along with the bodies of the deceased. Show some respect for crying out loud.

Samantha Hurley

OK so u guys need to have some kinda respect for the family and friends of the victims this should not turn into a fighting war.. I k is earl first hand he was my driver every week for the past 2 months or so. He was a extremely cautious driver and loved to drive.. He also worked at a local cemetery in waterboro because he loved to help others…. Its a very tragic thing that has happened to him n this precious little boy…. Some of u r right this driver needs to b charged some way because when traffic is slowing down due to another accident 2 miles away and this happens that he hit earls vehicle then landed on top of him means the mail box truck wasn’t paying attention or something… So the family of both Wyatt and earl need to b sueing the mail company and what not.. And his article needs to not have all the drama and fighting n let’s respect earl n this precious Wyatt… Rip earl u will forever b missed and never forgotten..